My Five Friday Faves From the Week

{1} “For the first time in forever….”  I got to see Frozen! We showed it to the preschoolers on Thursday and let me just say … it was AMAZING!! There are just so many things I love about that movie!! I loved it!!  And now you’re singing that song in your head aren’t you?!  You’re welcome!! ;)

{2} Cheese sticks!!! I’ll spare you a picture of me eating these things, but I can’t get enough of them!! They are so good!! I wait until they go on sale and I have a paper coupon and get them for super cheap!!  yeah… remember that post I told you for the bazillionth time that I’m a cheapskate frugal?  ;)

{3} My workout from Monday was another fun one! AND my favorite one from the week… seeing as I only got to work out once during the actual week! Hopefully I’ll be able to get in another 1 or 2 workouts this weekend! *My fingers are crossed!*

{4} My favorite Backfire of the week…When SELF put down tutu wearers, the running community came together in support and now wearing tutus is even more popular… take that SELF!! However, I did learn today that the magazine did apologize. I personally don’t have a tutu, but if I ever dressed up for a race I would definitely be a cute superhero tutu wearin’ runner!! Every one races for different reasons and wears different things, we are ALL out there running none-the-less!! No one has the right to judge someone who is making a healthy lifestyle choice like running a race!! What do you think about this whole situation?  Do you think the apology fixes everything?

{5} Starting yesterday at 4pm I am officially on Spring Break!!! Bring it on!!! :)  In the next 9 days I will only be working a total of 16-22 hours! I’m super pumped!! :)  I have some fun things planned too!  My mom and I are going to have a girls day out and although I don’t know what we are going to do yet, I know it will be a blast! I can’t wait to hang out with her! She happens to be my best friend and I miss her now that we don’t live with my family anymore!

{BONUS}  Don’t forget to enter my two giveaways! They end Monday 3/31!!

And don’t forget to visit the giveaway linkup to see other great giveaways going on in Blogland (or linkup your own giveaway!)

What are your Friday Faves from the week?
What do you have planned for this weekend?
Do you wear tutus?
What food are you obsessed with lately?

GREAT NEWS!! #ffcheckin and an Awesome Workout!

You can save 15% or more on car insurance…

Just kidding! ha! And yes… What you see on my blog is what you get… stupid humor and all! Although I do hold back on my lame jokes quite a bit so that you guys will maybe like me a little bit more and not think I’m a weirdo! ;)

I really do have some awesome great news though! Are you guys ready for this?!  Last year I applied to be a #FitFluential Ambassador and a couple weeks ago I got the official “you’re accepted” email.  I didn’t want to share though until today when I got the official “you’re official” email!  So it’s official… I’m now the newest FitFluential Ambassador!! I’m super excited to be a part of yet another great community!!

Are you a #FFAmbassador??

So, my day today was pretty much amazing and not really for any specific reason… other than I actually got enough sleep for once last night!

**Confession**  I’ve been AWFUL at going to bed at a decent time!!  Most nights I won’t go to sleep til after midnight or 1am! I can blame it on not getting off work til 11pm at my second job, but it’s totally my fault…

Ok, back to my awesome day… I only went to work (educational assistant) for half a day and got off at noon to go to a required training.  Well that training wasn’t supposed to end til 4pm which is when I normally get off work anyways… BUT I got done at 2!!! How awesome right?!  That meant that I got to the gym 2 hours earlier and wasn’t exhausted (in part because I got enough sleep) and got home 2 hours earlier and was able to make dinner when the sun was still shining!

I know some of you are like “girl, why don’t you go to the gym BEFORE work and then you’d be home at 4 every Monday!” lol… well, you may have missed the one few billion posts where I mention I’m a cheapskate frugal, have a bajillion jobs, and don’t even have enough money to fly across the US to Cali this summer which is why I don’t have a gym membership and workout at my college alma mater for FREE… which means my workout window is pretty small as the gym is only open from 10-8.  Such is life and you gotta make the most of what you’ve got, so I’m not complaining! :)

This is the view from where I worked out today… Not too shabby right?!

 

I switched up my workout a little bit… I did a circuit type of workout today…

- Walking Warmup 7min --> .42mi

- Squats (12)(14)(16); Lunges (10ea leg); Wall Sit (30sec); Pushups (10 manly ones) ;)  X 3 repeats

- 30 Day Fast Start with Jackie Warner [Arms only, used 5lbs] (I have it memorized so no need for the DVD ha!)

- Side Lunges (10ea leg); Plank (45sec)(50sec)(1:00); Crunches (20); Bicycle Crunches (16)(18)(20) X 3 repeats

- Run 20:27min --> 2 miles!!! Pretty pumped cuz I’m consistently running 2 miles without any knee pain!!

- Walking Cooldown 8min --> .46mi

- Stretch for 20 minutes

 
Wall Sits!!! (and Nuun Energy!! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!)

No scientifically proven reason why I did any of the things I did in my workout… just did it cuz it sounded fun! ;) And remember, if you duplicate this workout for yourself cuz it sounds fun, I’m not a doctor or trainer or coach, etc… nor do I play one on tv!  It’s just a workout I came up with on my own and doesn’t guarantee you any kind of results except for maybe sore muscles ;)

I’ll leave you a picture of my dinner…

Chicken Quesadilla, Rice, Mixed Veggies, Salad, and Water

And just a reminder to enter my giveaways going on right now!! They both end 3/31 at 11:59pm!! :) (click the pic to go to the giveaway)

 

How was your workout this fine Monday?! ;)
Are you a FitFluential Ambassador?
Are you an Ambassador for a company/program/blog?
What’d you have for dinner?

Friday Favorites – That Hill is 10.9 out of 5?!

Ok, so I’m trying to get back into the blogging world after the whole moving thing… I feel like I finally have the apartment in order!! (Don’t worry, I have the Moving Story Post Coming Soon!!)  I feel like I’m kind of a stranger in Blog Land now, so I’m trying to change that by making 30 minutes every day to get around to everyone’s blogs!! :)

Now… on to my Friday Favorites!!

I RAN!!!!

I went out exploring my new town, looking for parks and hills and such… you know… the things that runner’s tend to get so excited and worked up about… “OH! That hill is at least a 10.9% incline out of a possible 5%!! I think I’ll do hill repeats today!!”  haha… no?  You’ve never said or thought something like that? lol ;)  Anyways… I started out just thinking I’d walk, but I felt so energized and excited to be outside that I ended up running part of it!!  Total: 5 miles with 2 RUNNING MILES!!!  **no knee pain yet, knock on wood!**

Yeah, btw… there are basically NO hills where we moved!! It’s the complete opposite of where we lived before!! Flat as a Pancake!!

Banana Bread

I’ve been craving this stuff and finally made a loaf!! So good!

Recipe I used is here

Yoga!

I told you all that Me and Routine are buds… I get more accomplished when I am busy!!  So… I made my life more busy!! HA! I joined 4 FOUR Yoga Challenges on Instagram! I feel like joining these things every month is really helping me grow in my yoga practice! It keeps me motivated and inspired!!  Some of my favorite poses in January so far:

  

Clockwise starting at Top Left: Flying Grasshopper, Pincha Mayurasana
(Forearm Stand), Dancer Pose, Goddess (#batmanasana) lol ;)

Now it’s your turn!! Tell me what some of your Friday Favorites are?!! :)

What Was I Thinking?!

Well hello there my friends!!  It’s so good to be able to spend a little bit of time with you all today!!  I’ve been catching up on all of your blogs and you all seem to be just as busy as I am!! 

If you remember a few weeks back… when I actually had a little bit of time to blog… I told you all that I would have 4 jobs starting this fall… Let me just recap for you:

1. Restaurant Job (Nights and Weekends) 
   [I asked for an old job back when I was jobless… read about it HERE]
2. ASL Interpreter (On Call 24/7) 
   [I signed up with one agency… hopefully more in the future!!]
3. Preschool Educational Aide (Monday through Thursdays) 
   [Job I was doing in May… now full-time tho!]
4. Substitute Teacher (Fridays) 
   [I can now sub for any interpreters in the area as well as teachers!!]

Well, since then I have signed up with one more interpreting agency.  I have not yet worked for them as my schedule is super busy!!  The past couple weeks I’ve been working 60+ hour weeks!  Having 40 hours by Wednesday night!  CRAZY!!  I’m just a tad tired … and now sick… BUT I’m still feeling super blessed as you can read in this post from back in July.

Let me recap a few things from these past couple of weeks:

3 weeks ago I had new employee training and beginning of the school year meetings all week long! We were emailed before our training and this is what it said:

Please dress comfortably with closed-toe shoes. There
will be a lot of physical movement required and close
contact with other participants.

Sure I’ll wear jeans and my Brooks Pure Flows to work… no problem!!! ;)  I also made sure I had plenty of deodorant on too!

I got to eat outside a couple days and the weather was gorgeous! (the minion on my banana made me smile!)

They even fed us lunch one day:

The next week we walked into the classroom and had boxes piled to above my head with no walking space and it took us that whole week to unpack and get everything situated and ready for the kids the following week!  Let me tell you… I prolly spent a whole day laminating and cutting things out! lol… it was a lot of work, but by Thursday it actually looked like a preschool classroom!

Then, this past Monday was the day I had been waiting for… the kiddos first day of school!!!  (Notice the difference in clothing from training to first day of school!) ;)

What?! Thanks for noticing!! I did indeed get my ratty birds nest hair chopped off! It had been a year since I got it cut and i figured it was about time because no amount of detangler would untangle that mess anymore!  I wanted it to be longer, but you know the deal.. you tell them an inch they take 6… am I right?!! :-P

Anyways… so working 14 hour days (8 at pre-k and 6 at DQ after that) kinda did me in and then getting hugs and snot wiped on you doesn’t help and now i’m sick… I’ve been downing the water and vitamin C hoping to get rid of it as soon as possible!! I didn’t get a whole lot of working out in, but once I get more accustomed to my crazy schedule I’m sure I’ll be able to get my workouts in!!

How was your week?

How long do you go between haircuts?

What do you do for a living? Work more than one job?

Wordless Wednesday: Baking Brookies (Video)

*I took this in instagram but it unexpectedly shut down on me so I decided to upload this to YouTube instead… Enjoy!

 

Our Internet Guy is Visiting and CrapTON of Pictures

Our internet has been spotty and the internet guy finally showed up to fix it… While he’s doing that I figured I would write a post that doesn’t really take all that much effort because it’s Sunday and I’m kinda feeling like a bum today after working 14 days with 1 day off and a 12 hour shift on Thursday…  I’m not complaining because I truly do feel thankful and blessed that I even have a job! :) Just don’t expect anything inspirational on the blog today! ;)

Anways… here’s the crapTON (real legit unit of measurement) of Pictures I promised… They’re all from the past couple weeks (you can follow me on instagram here so you don’t feel left out)… Enjoy!

Last time I checked in I said I was done with the resting like Harry Potter is done with Lord Voldemort and starting to workout again…

 

Getting off work after 11pm and not getting home til 11:30pm, I wouldn’t expect to see a whole lot of anything in nature… I would be wrong:

I’ve enjoyed a couple softball games and my twin and fur-niece even came to a couple:

                                                              Me and my fur-niece

Some food shots:

Some blog things:

NUUN happened to make it’s way into a couple pictures… I don’t honestly know how that happened other than the fact that I drink it ALL.THE.TIME! :-P

There ya have it… a totally non-inspiring, lazy bum, crapTON of pictures Sunday post for ya! ;)  I hope you have a great Sunday!!  Tell me something you enjoyed doing this weekend!

Happy Father’s Day & My Thoughts on Spirit of the Marathon II

I know it’s been half a week already, but I have been crazy busy with doctor appointments and job interviews this past week! (more on that later)  Guess it’s just as well I post my thoughts on SOTM2 today because I got to go see it with my daddy!  Happy Father’s Day to the best daddy in the world!! :)

First of all I just want to thank Fathom Events for the passes to go see Spirit of the Marathon II in exchange for writing about it on my blog! 

My dad ended up going with me and we got there about half an hour early… we were the only ones in the theater until about 6:55 and then a couple more people showed up and then a lot more people showed up about 5 minutes after the movie started.  Before the movie started there were marathon trivia questions popping up on the screen, so that was fun and definitely helped pass the time.

Upon the Greek victory over the Persians in 490 B.C., legend says that soldier Pheidippides ran 25 miles from the battlefield in Marathon, Greece, to Athens to deliver the news. After he arrived, Pheidippides yelled out, "Rejoice, we are victorious,” then collapsed and died (source).

This movie starts out the morning of the marathon with the 7 runners getting ready to leave for the race and then starts in to the introductions of each one of the seven runners and we get to hear each of their story’s.  Spirit of the Marathon II takes us on a journey with these 7 runners as they prepare for the Rome Marathon and interjects little snippets of the actual race periodically throughout with more of the race towards the end of the movie.

From the very beginning I was loving it!!  I laughed, I cried, I gasped and often times nodded my head in agreement or knowing exactly how each runner was feeling!  It’s a very inspiring movie not only for the veteran or beginner runner, but also for those who aspire and dream of one day running a marathon of their own or even to just start running!

**Insert whining here** I WANT TO BE BACK OUT THERE RUNNING THE ASPHALT!! ugh!  I can’t stand not running… and this movie made it that much harder to be sidelined with a knee injury right now… totally sucks!  Why me!?!?  **End of rant**… for now! ;) mwahahaha!!! ahem…

My dad loved the movie too, which I’m glad! I didn’t want him to be bored sitting through a running movie when he doesn’t run (he bikes)… But, he liked it a lot! After the movie ended there was a featurette about Team World Vision… it’s a great cause so click on the link and go look it up! 

Then, after we watched Spirit of the Marathon II… by the way, now I need to watch the first one! lol… we headed to Max & Ermas (my first time ever) for a little grub… just so happens it was “Free Cookie Wednesday” (BEST.NIGHT.EVER!)

We headed out with full bellies… we did have enough self-control to save a cookie for our spouses… since we each got three cookies! lol ;)  It was a great night spent with my dad and I truly loved the movie even though it made me feel worse about being injured! ;)

 
A fountain outside the theater

Did you go see Spirit of the Marathon II?? What’d you think?!

Happy Father’s Day out there to all you fit dads! :)